Developing a Social Media Strategy for Photographers

Lesson 14 of 42

Why Use Snapchat?

Developing a Social Media Strategy for Photographers

Lesson 14 of 42

Why Use Snapchat?

Lesson Info

Why Use Snapchat?

So Snapchat. Let's go ahead and see a raise of hands of how many people use Snapchat? How many people have used Snapchat? All right. How many people use it consistently? Two. All right. Snapchat is a unique beast in the social media world. Now, let's talk about a couple of things about Snapchat first then I'll dive into that. So Snapchat was created in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Has over 150 million active daily users as of now or at least a few months ago. Daily video views have increased to 400% between 2015 and 2016. That is huge. I think I have statistics here. Snapchat's video views are now greater than Facebook's. More people are watching snaps and Snapchat stories which are considered their videos. All the videos currently being watched on Facebook. That's huge. That's big. They're a fraction of the size of Facebook. Facebook's tried to buy them, I'm pretty sure. And I'm pretty sure Snapchat's like, "We're worth more than you think we are." Snapchat already has more ...

users than Twitter who has been around for longer. 60% of users are between 18 to 34 years old. So generally it's a little bit more a market demographic that's kind of a little bit more on the younger age. Certainly 18 and younger are a large portion of the rest of people. It is generally a younger demographic. And the reason why people or companies are putting a lot of money into it is because it's reaching demographics, that people are leaving Facebook. So younger generations are leaving Facebook because they find it boring or it's not working for them. They're going to places like Snapchat which adds a lot of brand value for companies that are trying to reach that demographic. Instagram right now has copied most of their features, literally verbatim. Like not even trying to hide it. It's amazing. They're sitting there and it's like Snapchat stories and all of a sudden it's like Instagram stories. And I'm like, "Are you guys even trying?" Like a lot of the features that they're building in, essentially are trying to pull people back over. And to be fair, it's kind of working. I know a lot of photographers, myself included, again 100% transparency, I was active on Snapchat, used it for a bit. All of a sudden, Instagram came up with the stuff. I'm like, "Well, Instagram's already important to me. Why do I want to go over to Snapchat and spend more time?" So since Instagram have created a lot of the features that Snapchat had, I don't use it so much anymore. So my thoughts on Snapchat. Snapchat is a unique platform because of how it operates in the idea of scarcity, which we're going to talk about in a second, which increases the value of the content that you produce on the network. And the reason that I feel that it's not a network for everyone is because it's that idea of kind of a real-time interaction and engagement. And again, the harsh truth of the reality is that most of our daily lives are boring. Like I travel the world. I live a very happy life. I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am. I work on projects all over the place. I make quite a good living. My daily life is not that much different than most average people. I wear my pajamas most of the day, unless I have to have a business meeting. I'm hanging out playing lego Batman with my son. I'm doing all sorts of cool stuff. For Snapchat, it's really about that idea of brand personality. And the idea that the moments that you are creating are meant to be shared instantly with what's happening. And so for most people, it's just too much work. It's too much work trying to make something interesting out of the daily minutia of what happens with most of our lives. And I get it. Again, I feel that frustration. But that being said, it is being marketed to from a lot of other companies are investing so much advertising dollars in places like Snapchat, and Instagram, to be fair, that it's also hard to ignore. So while I don't necessarily recommend it's good for everyone, if you have a brand personality where you're really engaging and you can kind of get your followers along. And you have something interesting to say. And you can make something interesting about having a cup of tea. Then you should be on something like Snapchat because the value for it is huge. Literally, tens of thousands of dollars are being thrown at people that have built up followings on Snapchat simply because they're reaching market demographics that you can't on any of the other networks. And because of scarcity which we're going to talk about. Well, actually, I don't think we talked about this yet. So let's talk about that really quick. Scarcity. The reason that Snapchat has value is because of the idea of scarcity. So if you think about that from an economic standpoint, supply, and demand. Generally, the more supply, the less demand. Right? For the most part. And what happens like with print images as an analogy, you sit there and you create a print. Well, there's millions of other prints that are out there. And that print in itself, I can create millions of those prints and sell them. And so the value of that individual print is not all that much. But if I do limited edition prints, I'm only going to do 50. I can exponentially charge longer or charge more because the value for those 50 there's not going to be any more than 50. There's a scarcity. And what Snapchat's done is taking that mentality, that principle of scarcity with content and worked it into a social media platform. So that's why their content doesn't last very long because they don't want it to last long. That increases the value of the fact of your users have to be engaged with you right then. Instagram, people can see your stuff a couple of days later, a couple of hours later, whatever. It doesn't matter so much. Facebook, people don't feel that sense of urgency to follow your stuff and make sure they see everything that you do. It just doesn't happen. Places like Snapchat do. Because of how the network works. It has taken that idea of scarcity and increased the value position of creating content on the platform for those that can build the following. And we'll talk about that in just a second. So tips for building your audience. Snapchat is all about your personality. Again, it's the idea that you have an engaging personality. You have a lot of fun things to say, you're witty, you're charming, you can have fun with it, maybe you're an educator or whatever. It doesn't matter. As long as you have a personality that you feel people are kind of attracted to, places like Snapchat are huge. To build your audience you can generate what's called a Snapchat QR code. So QR Codes are little scannable codes. And the challenge with Snapchat is the fact that until recently actually they just...It's not even rolled out to everyone right now, is they finally have some sorts of organic search within the app. Like before you couldn't search. I couldn't sit there and say, "Show me, photographers." And like it would say, "Whose tag is tag photographer?" Like there was no way to search for more stuff until now. Literally happening as we talk. So generating Snapchat code is one of the few ways and still is one of the few ways where you can sit there and create a Snapchat code and then share that out to your social media channels or to put on your website. And then people within Snapchat can sit there in their Snapchat camera can go over the Q code and that's going to take them to your profile and then they'll follow your stuff. So if you're interested in Snapchat, get your QR code and start pushing it out there. Promote your Snapchat account everywhere else. Again, Snapchat until the recent changes was all about simply taking the benefits you've had of raising a following in other places and directing them towards Snapchat. It just wasn't very easy to find other people doing interesting things. Save your Snapchat stories to share on other platforms. This is, again, huge. Snapchat stories are great because they will combine. So over the course of 24 hours maybe I'll do 12 Snapchat stories. And they work in succession of each other. And as long as I go back before that 24th hour of that first content, 24-hour window, I can sit there and I can save that entire day of videos in a single video. So I'll have a single movie file, MP4 file I believe. And then I can take that movie file of a fun day I had and whatever, playing Legos with my son or traveling around the world, and then I can take that video and share that to Facebook or Instagram or any of the other places. And then it gives me and encourages me to sit there and say, "Hey, for more cool fun live stuff, follow me on Snapchat. Here's my QR code. Here's my tag." Because you can search by tag. And do giveaways. Again, the sense of urgency. This is huge. The idea that you can sit there and there's not that sense of urgency on Twitter because there's like a million tweets coming by. And on Facebook, there's just too many people. Instagram, I mean, you can have some value in it. But leverage that idea of scarcity. 24-hour window, speed giveaway. There's value in that. There's value that they have a time frame. Use that to your advantage.

Class Description

There are no shortages of online networks for photographers to share their images, but which platforms are best for you and how do you utilize them to grow your photography? Sony Artisan Colby Brown will walk you through the foundations of social media and why it’s so important for your brand as a photographer. He’ll show you how to define what you want out of your online experience and how to maximize your time on each of the major networks.

Colby will discuss:

What each of the major social networks are and what they’re best utilized for

Tips for growing an audience or followers

What networks to use to achieve your goals as a photographer

Tricks to breaking down the different network algorithms to maximize your engagement

Develop a social media strategy to build your brand as a photographer

No matter your genre of photography, be it travel, wedding, or pet photography, social media has the power to grow your audience, business, and skills. Learn tips and tricks on where and how to invest your time using these free online marketing tools.

Giles Rocholl

This course is designed to help you develop a Social Media strategy if you are Photographer. I am a professional photographer with over 37 years of experience and although I know how to use Facebook and Instagram I didn't really understand how to use them to achieve business and personal goals. I started watching this course about 2 months ago and have just finished it due to work commitments. However I have put into practice his advice as I learnt new understanding and my following has grown rapidly. Also my work load and quality of assignment has increased dramatically too. It takes some brain rewiring to understand how social media has taken the place of many traditional media streams but Colby does an excellent job of painting a picture that helps hugely. The best thing about Colby's strategy is that it is real life, honest and something I feel I can personally and ethically live with happily. I happily endorse this course and recommend it.

Beatriz Stollnitz

I was very lucky to be in the audience for this class. Colby is an incredible instructor - he has the rare combination of being successful, knowledgeable and talented, but at the same time down to earth, approachable and genuinely willing to help others succeed. The content presented is actionable - I have so many ideas of things that I can do right now that can help my online presence! I can't wait to get started!

Rob Lettieri

I learned a few things I never knew...especially the whole inside scoop on LinkedIn....who knew??? Easy to listen to....a lot of deflection to later answers to questions...which would have made a director allow for less...why ask if you cant answer just then....and he says every question is a "great question" but it clearly isn't in a few cases....so credibility goes down...I understand positive enforcement for the millennials...but every question is not great.
otherwise easy to follow and straightforward....